Ms. Etta's Fast House Read Online Free Page B

fair shot at releasing a lot more than just steam.
    Delbert had been waiting over two months for an opportunity to prove himself in the operating room and now he realized he had to do the same with the ladies in order to keep step. There he was in the midst of other talented black men, who had also taken it upon themselves to endure the rigors of long hours and intense scrutiny for little to no money. Improving the quality of life for their patients, along with the perks associated with being single physicians was their reward. Delbert was feeling better about his chances to make a big splash in a deep pond and although he felt more at ease than he’d anticipated, he quickly came to discover that keeping his head above water wasn’t quite so easy.

3
    O LD D OGS , N EW F LEAS
    T he following morning rolled in nice and easy. As the community came alive, Penny was there to witness it. Watkins Emporium had closed by the time she made it back to town the evening before, so she sat on the curb outside of the dry goods store all night, with her knees tucked against her chest, waiting and watching. She watched a large woman in the gray house across the street open the front door and kiss a fellow good night. Then, Penny’s eyes were glued to the milkman as he parked in the driveway, stepped inside, and made a fifteen minute in-home delivery before returning to the dairy truck while zipping up his pants. She also witnessed another man arrive in a work uniform, with a meal pail in one hand and the St. Louis Comet News in the other. Penny scratched her nappy hair wondering how the poor woman in that gray house managed to get any sleep between the second and third shifts. By the end of the week, Penny would come to learn that the woman wasn’t all that interested in sleeping.
    While the revolving door across the street kept on spinning, an attractive woman, satin-brown skinned and jazzy, strolled along humming a pleasant tune. She sashayed in her tangerine colored cotton dress and matching pumps as she surveyed the young girl curiously. “Penny King, that you?” she asked, surprised to find her there.
    Penny glanced up, smiled cordially then went back to spying at the gray house where all the activity had taken place. “Yeah, it’s me. Morning, Ms. Etta.” Jo Etta Adams was the closest thing there was to a society woman without actually being one. She owned the most popular nightclub in “The Ville,” St. Louis’s upper-crust colored neighborhood. Negroes from all over the country visited Ms. Etta’s Fast House , the rhythm and blues haven of the Midwest, where national celebrities made frequent appearances to shake up the local scene. Dizzy Gillespie played a nearby theater to a packed white-only audience the month before. After the theater owner paid him, Dizzy loaded up the tour bus and drove it thirteen blocks to the front door of Ms. Etta’s so his band could cut up with the colored folk all night long. The famous musician wouldn’t accept money from Etta but he didn’t pass up on the free beer and all the home cooking his band members could eat.
    â€œWhat are you doing, sitting there on the sidewalk this early in the day?” Etta inquired with her brow furrowed, as if this was one of the strangest things she’d ever seen.
    â€œI was waiting for Watkins to open up while watching how these city folk start off their day,” Penny answered nonchalantly. “Now I’m just waiting.”
    â€œI don’t understand. You waiting for Halstead?”
    â€œNah, he’ dead,” Penny told her, as if he’d merely skinned his knee. “I’m waiting to see what happens now since that man showed up after working all night and finds the milkman’s hat in his bedroom. See, he had it on going in but not when he come out.”
    Etta was even more confused than before. “What’s this about some dead milkman?”
    â€œUh-uh, Halstead